Dracula: Difference between revisions

Although Dracula debuted in the original ''Castlevania'', his origins lie in ''Castlevania: Lament of Innocence'', where he was once a Crusader and partner to Leon Belmont named Mathias Cronqvist. However, upon the sudden passing of his wife Elisabetha, Cronqvist became filled with anger and hatred, declaring war on God. In 1094, Cronqvist takes control of the Crimson Stone and becomes a vampire, eventually changing his name to Dracula Vlad Ţepeş. Dracula later ended his war against God in 1455 when he met and eventually married, a human woman named Lisa. Together, they bore a son named Adrian. In 1475, Lisa was executed following accusations of witchcraft and Dracula declared war against humanity as a result. Adrian, who was present at the execution, was told to deliver Lisa's final words to his father. However, he finds himself unable to reason with him, even with the presentation of logic that it would be more fitting to go after the executioners rather than attack all of mankind. Adrian turned against his father and changed his name to [[Alucard]], representing that he was against Dracula. A year later, Dracula was defeated by Trevor Belmont, Alucard and their companions Sypha Belnades and Grant Danasty.

Dracula's chance came fifteen years later in 1591, when Christopher was now the proud father to Soleil Belmont. The lad was coming of age as a Vampire Hunter and a ceremony was to be held in their honor, with the people of Transylvania feeling confident that this peace would prosper with the father-son duo. On the day following the ceremony, Soleil vanished and four castles of crystal, plant, cloud and stone appeared. Christopher set out to these castles to find his son, defeating their guardians and watching as their destruction brought forth the return of Dracula's castle. Venturing into the castle, Christopher finds Soleil in the chapel but something was different about him. The two fought, with Christopher snapping his son out of the hex that was placed upon him. The boy revealed that he had been magically influenced by Dracula, having seen the boy as the best opportunity to strike back against the Belmont clan. In fact, the count had Soleil raise the four castles so that he could use the spirits of their guaridans to make himself whole once more. Christopher pressed on for the final confrontation with Dracula and destroyed the Count, ridding the world of him for the time being. Christopher and Soleil watched Dracula's castle fall with full confidence that he was gone and the Belmont bloodline would strongly continue, with Christopher being revered as a legend.

Nearly one hundred years later, Dracula was resurrected in a black sabbath on April 15th, Easter Sunday of that year, by a demonic cult by crushing a freshly extracted human heart over his ashes, spilling its blood on them. He was defeated by Christopher's descendant, [[Simon Belmont]]. In his dying breath, Dracula set a curse on Simon that slowly killed him from the inside, which was undone by reviving Dracula and destroying him once more. A century later, Dracula is revived twice by the Dark Priest, Shaft, but is defeated first by [[Richter Belmont]], then by Alucard five years later. During his battle against Richter, he has Shaft kidnap various women from the town of Aljiba, including Richter's fiancée Annette Renard and her sister Maria, with the intent of using them as the next sacrifices for his next resurrection. He even offers Annette the chance to become a vampire herself and rule humanity alongside him. Just before his fight with Richter, he offers his manifesto: he is above humanity's concepts of morality, because power is the one true thing that rules the world. In his words, he describes mankind as "a miserable little pile of secrets" (or "a cesspit of hatred and lies"). After he is defeated by Alucard, his son tells him the last words of his wife: "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot." Alucard then adds that his mother would love the count for all eternity. Dracula asks for Lisa's forgiveness as he fades away, bidding his son farewell.

Across the 19th century, Dracula would see himself resurrected by his minions and humans that are drawn to his power. However, the Belmont clan was unable to fight back, as a prophecy had prohibited them from touching the Vampire Killer, the holy whip created by Leon until the appointed time had come. In the early 1800's, many organizations were established with the same goal as the Belmonts, and day after day they conducted their studies diligently, but each was dissolved when they failed to produce satisfactory results. But that was when Barlowe, the leader of the Order of Ecclesia, finally made a surprising breakthrough that could stand up against Dracula: using his own powers against him using a set of three Glyphs known as Dominus. Barlowe's two most promising disciples were Shanoa and Albus, brother and sister by bond, each with a different skill in their use of glphs. Barlowe saw the most potential in Shanoa to be the one to use Dominus, sending Albus on an errand despite making a promise to him. When the ritual was to begin, Albus stole Dominus and Shanoa collapsed, waking up with her memories in pieces. Barlowe sent Shanoa to track down Albus and recover the pieces of Dominus, along the way rescuing villagers from the town of Wygol nearby. Shanoa found Albus consumed by Dominus and was forced to kill him. But upon obtaining the final glyph, Albus' soul from within Dominus revealed the truth to Shanoa: Barlowe meant to use Dominus to reawaken Dracula. Shanoa fought her former master but failed in preventing the resurrection of the Dark Lord. The young woman fought with Dracula in his keep, fulfilling the mission that she pledged long ago and tearfully smiling for Albus' soul as it ascended to heaven.

Unknown to the outside world, Good had vanquished Dracula's evil once more, as all record of Ecclesia seemingly vanished into the mists of time. Other hunters would take the Order's place, including the Morris clan; Quincey, John, and Jonathan. Quincey himself did not use the Vampire Killer in his battle with the count; Instead, Quincey plunged his bowie knife into the vampire's heart just as the sun had set on November 6th, 1897, dying of his wounds minutes later in the arms of his companions. After resurrections in both World Wars, the final battle against Dracula ensued in 1999, where he was permanently destroyed by Julius Belmont, Alucard and their allies. Portions of his power were passed down to those who were born on the day of his death and Dracula himself reincarnated as Soma Cruz in 2017. Soma learned of this when the castle manifested in a solar eclipse over Japan in 2035, but he resisted Dracula's influence, telling Julius to kill him should he become the evil count. One year later, Soma stopped a cult that sought to resurrect Dracula through those who had inherited portions of his power. An alternate, non-canon scenario depicts a corrupted Soma transforming into a reincarnation of Dracula, forcing Julius, Yoko Belnades and Alucard to defeat him.